Today is my birthday and I am having a great day! Before I even woke up this morning, Chris was busy preparing my favorite breakfast. When I got to work, I saw that the birthday fairy had passed through my office.

Can you believe I get to enjoy this beautiful view every day?

My awesome coworkers got me an awesome card (and coffee gift card!).

Outside: I am one with the cake.

Inside: Cake is merely an extension of the body. Happy Cake Day.

They also had some fancy cupcakes delivered to the office. I had a strawberry cream cheese cupcake with graham cracker crumb crust at the office and a banana cream cupcake with chocolate icing with Chris and my brother, PJ, later on.

A sweet friend treated me to lunch, got to hang out and have special treats with Chris and PJ, family and friends called, I even fit in a workout…in all, today has been a great start to my next year.

I feel very blessed. And grateful. For everything I have. I want nothing more than to share how I am feeling. Touched by The Nester’s posts about travelling to Tanzania to meet one of her sponsored children through Compassion International, Chris and I decided to sponsor a child ourselves.

Meet Joseph from Tanzania.

And you know what? Today is Joseph’s birthday, too! He turned 12 today and I hope that he will consider our sponsorship a wonderful birthday present. We very much look forward to learning more about his interests and sharing our lives with him through many letters.